The holy city: This is the second of two occurrences of this description of Jerusalem in Ezra and Nehemiah. See the comments at verse 1 above, where it occurs the first time.
Quoted with permission from Noss, Philip A. and Thomas, Kenneth J. A Handbook on Nehemiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2005. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .